To leave on or not to leave on - that is the question

[kjam22]

Just wondering, is there any issue with leaving the expresses on for extended periods (days, weeks, etc?).  I typically shut off power to all of my controllers each night since I have a dedicated circuit.  Just wondering if I could leave them on all the time?

Also, what about the dongle?  Is there any problem with leaving the dongle plugged in?  I have been pulling the USB cord each night to shut down power - is this necessary?

[RJ]

your choice, they do not care. The dongle does not care either. The only issue is that if you kill your dongle you should kill you expresses or they may start turning channels on over time.

RJ

[jnealand]

The question is why do you turn them off?  If you are trying to save electricity, the power consumed with no show is trivial and the boxes don't seem to care.  I have left mine on from setup to tear down for several years with no issues.

[lineman]

I leave mine on 24-7

[Rod R]

I leave the whole set up running 24/7.  Because I'm not at home when the lights go on and my wife has no idea what to do.  She calls me up if they don't come on right at 5:30 PM I have to tell her to look at the time on the computer and not the wall clock because the computer controls the lights not the wall clock.   

[Rainlover]

Mine are also on 24/7. I don't get home until after the show starts and my wife is out of town Monday thru Friday and my dog always fogets his password to log in to the show computer.

John

[Rod R]

Mine are also on 24/7. I don't get home until after the show starts and my wife is out of town Monday thru Friday and my dog always fogets his password to log in to the show computer.

John

Oh yea the dog forgot maybe she can turn the power on. 

[Dennis Cherry]

ONLY way to go is 24/7 and keep the DMX going to all controllers even if you are not sending any commands.

That way you will not let noise false trigger the channels.

JMHO

[OkieJay]

I power them off at night.  I had my house wired with Christmas lights in mind so all I have to do is step out into the garage from my utility room and flip twp switches to shutdown the power to my Christmas light outlets.  I let the computer shutdown the show, then I power off the computer, my FM transmitter and the two switches in the garage.  My wife flips the switches back on in the late afternoon and powers back up the computer and transmitter.  I am fortunate that both my wife and my youngest son know how to start everything up when needed, my dogs are good with passwords but they have have never got the hang of using a mouse.         
       

[rimist]

My computer and therefore the dongle remain on 24/7. I'm still using my laptop as I haven't had time to set up the dedicated linux box. The lynx express and lynx ssr4-dmx are on dedicated circuit breakers, however, they also remain on. The only switching that happens currently is the dedicated breaker for the air blowns is turned on and the dedicated breaker for the security lights off & vice versa. I have timers for both I plan on setting up.

- Rimist

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

[deanathpc]

24/7 here.  Did that for Halloween too.  No problems.....

[JoeFromOzarks]

After some vandalism and having an Express stolen, I decided to shut everything down.  Replacing electronics is easy.  Discovering a fried vandal sizzling in the yard is probably something else.  Before then, everything was left on 24/7, the show computer has its own UPS.

joe

[rimist]

I would hope that adding a lock and two warnings "danger high  voltage" and "no trespassing" would be enough to alleviate any culpability to the sizzling vandal

- Rimist

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

[JoeFromOzarks]

The stolen Express has at least one cooked channel, the crook cut through the output cables (white SPT2) and several were blackened.  He/she was smart enough to unwrap the plastic wrap around the power feed though.  He didn’t get the Freestyles (that time) but did manage to walk off with SSR’s.   I wonder how he’ll get the Express to talk to the dmx-less SSR’s?

I live in area code 417 – the catch phrase for Meth.  They’ll steal anything and everything, gas from your vehicles, bbq grills, mowers, boats, bulldozers, running generators - anything not welded to the core of the earth.  There is a big thing now, they’re stealing copper from powered substations and cutting down rural power line poles to steal the wire!!  It’s insane!!   One of my friends outdoor heat pump unit vanished one day while he was at work, and his wife was home at the time!  One of the boat docks had two HUGE outboard engines stolen from boats – while they were docked in the water!  Can you imagine?

I bought a security system with eight cameras to catch the next bandits.   So far, I caught the fellow regularly stealing gas from my Suburban.  I thought my gas mileage had plummeted.

joe

[OkieJay]

I would consider putting an electric livestock fence around the display.  By putting out lots of "Danger High Voltage" signs you may reduce your liability.  And, if you are real lucky the thief may let out a nice scream so you can catch him in the act.